Toby
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Posts posted by Toby
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1 hour ago, Bucky said:
Stranraer are very reminiscent of last year’s Albion Rovers team who were talented but inexperienced and lacked the leadership to take us through the playoff. We effectively played into Spartans hands.
Nathan Flanagan and Tiwi are the ones to watch for EK, very very good side with the ball. They were suspect at the back and then reportedly paid crazy money for our captain Sean Fagan which will steady them up. EK will be favourites and I have noticed over the years the team from the LL do tend to get favourable refereeing decisions. I think it will be close with EK edging it but I think under pressure they do have capacity for shitting the bed. Stranraer need to keep the 2nd leg alive no question.Interested in this. I go to every second leg of the play-off final at least and have made a few first legs on an annual basis (the only second leg I missed was Brechin v Kelty due to COVID restrictions that I bought a stream for) and I can’t remember any obviously controversial decisions going in the Lowland League (or non-league) clubs’ favour.
The only instances that I recall being terribly controversial were the Brora captain’s (Steven McKay?) headsgone against Montrose that saw him sent off, but was justified and the chaos between Cowdenbeath and Cove, that went on the SPFL clubs’ favour.
I genuinely can’t remember at Highland or Lowland club benefitting from anything notable in these ties.
Perhaps the Brechin player being sent off for a homophobic slur at a stricken Kelty player? No issues with that decision tbh.
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16 minutes ago, bridge of allan bairn said:
The Pars average home attendance this season is only 694 more than Falkirk (5,444 v 4,750). This is despite us being a league below with almost no away fans coming along to TFS this season. This 4,750 would put us 3rd in the current Championship behind the Pars and United (8,408). Raith finished on a healthy 4,191.
Think this could be a close run thing between the Pars and ourselves this season coming, especially given our season tickets sales will go up and away attendances will increase significantly.
The last five years have been a joy, but they’re back.
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1 minute ago, johnmc80 said:
Theres very little parking there aswell mate. If u pass down that road at 3 o’clock when school run is on its chaos. Doesn’t take much extra traffic and the area is gridlocked.
Yeah, I drive by there from work at 5pm every weekday and it can be a nightmare. But in the actual town there aren’t many alternatives. Suppose the biggest bit of available land would be the old Motorola site, but that wouldn’t be any better than K Park or Langlands, given the distance from any public transport links.
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27 minutes ago, johnmc80 said:
There is parking for about 20 cars at most at the ekym kirktonholme site. Its a nightmare to get parked there on a saturday for an amateur game. Would be a total non starter as a site for ekfc. Although i agree the location is spot on.
Aye, that’s true. There is however, a school across the road from it. I’m not sure what parking facilities it has, but given that football matches don’t tend to clash with school hours, perhaps that could double up?
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On the subject of a stadium site- the best site I can think of in East Kilbride is actually a construction site just now for a ground being built by EK YM, on the Kirktonholme pitches, right beside the train station and within walking distance of the village for any decent pubs, and the town centre for, well, nothing really.
I see plans are in place for the demolition of Centre West after only about 20 years, and building of houses on that site- now there’s a vanity project that would put the Keans to shame.
In an ideal world for EK, that may have been a shout. It could have brought more footfall to yet another of Scotland‘s ailing shopping centres in its more modest guise, and landed the club right in the heart of the community, but even with their money, I’d imagine the costs would have been prohibitive.
On a side note, I’ll be interested to see what happens with EK YM and their community stadium. Suspect they may well end up in the West of Scotland League at some point, with EK Thistle’s slow demise making way for them.
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1 minute ago, Supercaleyman94 said:
What a load of crap.
Highland teams have been defying the odds for decades. Look at Buckie Thistle this season denied a chance at the play offs even though 5 teams already in the SFL have the same license as them. One of these 5 teams actually have a chance of getting into the Premiership.
Look at your buddy earlier County haven't even been relegated & we haven't even confirmed our status in the Championship & he's already moaning about trips to the Highlands next season.
Cove for example aren't even a Highland team they just played in the Highland league cause they're a northern team.
Peterhead is another one wouldn't class them as Highlanders.
The only real Highland team that's been promoted to the SFL since 1994 is Elgin.
Where to start with this nonsense?
Buckie Thistle? Why not? Had any other team other than EK or Cumbernauld Colts, you know, the teams who have bronze licences, won the Lowland League, they’d have suffered the same fate as Buckie. That the SPFL allow existing members more leeway than non-members doesn’t constitute an anti-Highland bias. That’s only rattling round in the tiny minds of some of you lot.
Personally, I’m not happy that Buckie aren’t allowed to compete, but lifting the drawbridge from the SPFL isn’t exclusive to Highland clubs.
The guy commenting isn’t, and never has been “my buddy”. He’s probably the biggest moon howler of a Morton fan on here, ridiculed by most of us. It didn’t stop an Inverness fan moaning in response when your club(s) chose within living memory to apply to join the national set-up, knowing that it would have involved travel.
Cove and Peterhead. It wasn’t anyone from the central belt that invited them into the “Highland” League. If you don’t want Aberdeenshire clubs in your local league, don’t accept them.
And if you do accept them, there’s a chance they might win it and, now the pyramid is open, get promoted, as was the case with Cove.
With Peterhead, I’m sure you’ll be able to provide a viable Highland alternative that put forward a better case than them for election in 2000 and failed?
All in all, a solid 1/10 for that absolute disaster of a retort, on the basis that you correctly stated that Elgin are the only real Highland team to come into the SFL since 1994. And what a success they’ve been.
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20 minutes ago, sophia said:
Read my post, slowly if you need to, run your finger under it word for word if you must and then come back and retract.
None required for not accepting your misplaced, Celtic-esque cries of downtrodden victimhood, hotshot.
You have a lovely evening.
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4 minutes ago, sophia said:
I'm not referring to football but there we go.
The sun is out and there's a game to look forward to so that's just what I'll do.
If there's an underpinned to your displayed and obvious disposition, please try and look on the bright side.
Ah, right. Understandable shifting of the goalposts as soon as your “point” is ruthlessly devoured.
I’m very much looking on the bright side. The prospect of Inverness’s relegation and implosion, if not this year, very soon, is a terrific thought.
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27 minutes ago, sophia said:
Incredible that you don't wonder why they weren't part of the national leagues before.
If you are old enough, you'll recall the squirming of the closed shop that was the sfl when they were challenged and how they were ultimately embarrassed into change.
Anyway, I was making an entirely different point but whatever, well done in replying.
Nope, complete bollocks.
You’re the one who chose to allude to an anti-Highland bias in the present tense when in actual fact, it was a full thirty years ago that the first two Highland clubs were voted into the national set-up, we’ve had another two since, and the pyramid is now opened up to allow any club in (or back out as will hopefully be the case for Inverness with the money drying up).
I’d congratulate you on replying too, but let’s be honest, it would probably have been better if you hadn’t bothered.
3 minutes ago, CityDave94 said:There was about 20 years between Meadowbank Thistle entering and County and Caley Th joining, these places only came up for grabs when they were available. restructuring the leagues etc. There was no election system in place in Scottish football unlike there was in England during the 70's and early 80's.
I refer you to the above. If Sophia wants to refer to the current attitudes towards Highland clubs’ participation when in fact, they’ve had more than their fair share of opportunities for a full 30 years now, then he/she quite rightly deserved to be pulled for it.
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2 hours ago, sophia said:
There's no maybe about it, it's the age-old anti highland nonsense that has tumbled down the decades and refuses to accept that Scotland is actually quite a big country, has some nice bits and weegie favelas aren't the dolce vita.
Anyway, I'm fairly looking forward to Kirk Broadfoot playing football against Alex Samuel and if that doesn't work perhaps some all in wrestling too.
Incredible that of the last seven clubs elected into the SFL, four of them came from the Highlands (or at least Highland League), two came from the borders and the last was newco Rangers.
I do wonder how, with such inherent bias in the game to the central belt, and west coast in particular, Highland clubs managed to defy the odds and get into the national set up long before a pyramid was put in place to facilitate movement.
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1 hour ago, RiG said:
I see you're unfamiliar with the work of Malkmus.
By “work”, do you mean “dreadful patter”?
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5 minutes ago, Diamond1924 said:
Yeah, that’s exactly what’s happening, here.
Silly me.
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9 minutes ago, LargsTON said:
Absolutely and just further emphasises this bizarre obsession they've developed with us. I've seen the likes of Xavi and Iniesta to name just two passing the armband down the years.
Think it’s just one oddball tbh. Of the three Championship teams going to the play-offs I find Airdrie the most palatable.
Maybe a case of absence making the heart grow fonder after we had quite a bitter rivalry in 2003-04, or humiliating Falkirk last season, but I’ll certainly be wanting them to beat Partick and Raith.
Not sure I want them up to give us a crap visit to St. Johnstone or a third and fourth trip to the Highlands though.
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17 minutes ago, Diamond1924 said:
Nah it’s not bizarre - weirdo behaviour having the captain of your team pass the armband mid game. Looked like the change of leadership made a big difference anyway
Of all the sticks the Airdrie fans have to beat us with at the moment, this is definitely the most pointless.
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2 hours ago, Shibuya said:
There's actually a bit more of an atmosphere when there's a smaller away support packed into the one area rather than spread out over the Railway End. I think it was the Rovers fans who were saying they loved it when they beat us earlier in the season at Somerset. Not to be tit-for-tat but the away facilities at Cappielow must be one the worst in the division.
But it is tit-for-tat when you say that.
I agree Morton have probably (I’d argue undoubtedly) the worst facilities for away fans in this division, and started a thread on our forum looking at every club’s away experience in our division after our trip to Arbroath at Christmas time.
I didn’t go down the route of ranking every club, but going by my comments, Ayr were probably second behind Dunfermline, while I heavily criticised Morton.
I note that Ayr have said we’ll be in the seated area, rather than including the terraced enclosure at the front of that, which isn’t great either. Given that the stand cuts off around the 18 yard line, are we looking at a lot of restricted view seats?
Morton are in no position to complain about this, but as paying customers, the fans should have every right to have a grumble.
This isn’t exclusive to Morton and Ayr- despite our limited facilities. In Arbroath we were told to sit in a small section of the stand (which I assume would have had sight lines obscured) or stand in the pissing rain before they relented. At Tannadice, they cramp fans into as little space as possible and ban the young teams from having their drums etc while encouraging home fans to improve the atmosphere. At Firhill the bigger away supports are fired into a horrible old stand despite plenty alternatives elsewhere.
Mathie’s talk of trying to make Somerset the best awayday in the country is great, but he’s not practicing this. I don’t (and can’t as a Morton fan) expect every team in the division to provide equal facilities for visiting fans, but until such times as the clubs get round the table and agree on a strategy to make awaydays as enjoyable experience as possible, nothing will improve.
At the moment, away fans are being treated as an inconvenience or afterthought at best and trouble at worst. And the result is that we get a bit of “ah your lot are worse than ours” and the clubs going out their ways to out-shite each other. While we suffer at Somerset you’ll suffer at Cappielow. Is that the solution?
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5 minutes ago, Rhys McCabe Hype Train said:
Nice to see the Morton racists making themselves known:
Close, but no cigar.
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Just now, cb_diamond said:
Fair play to you for mentioning calling it out before. That takes balls and you should be applauded for it.
Rather than something that I should be credited for, I don’t think it’s something others should be criticised for not doing.
I’ve discussed it before on here- possibly around the time a Peterhead fan abused one of the Tapping brothers when he was a kid at East Stirling, but self-policing is easier said than done, and my incident was when Marvin Andrews was abused at a game against Raith in 2006.
It was of course different times in 2006, but “grassing” back then was often seen as being as bad as racism, and I was hassled for being a grass for about 18 months I’d say. I don’t agree I “grassed”, incidentally. I confronted the guys and the stewards and police had to respond to the confrontation.
Self-policing is a fantastic theory, but in practice it’s crap. I wouldn’t want that hassle again, and don’t blame anyone else for not wanting to get involved.
As I said on our forum, I hope he’s had a wee look online and is shiting himself.
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Just now, cb_diamond said:
Care to comment on the fact a prominent Morton poster has come out on your own tinpot forum to say that with certainty he heard racism occuring in the Morton end today directed at am Airdrie player?
I'm slightly confused as it's been mentioned here and there and as of yet, not one single Morton poster has commented on it....hmmm....that's odd...
Yep, utterly shameful. I see my post has been screenshotted on here mind you.
I was very critical last week of Raith’s handling of the bottle throwing incident- I’ll be very interested to see how Morton handle this.
On a terrible day for Morton, that was by far the most mortifying part of the day.
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11 minutes ago, callum-ayr said:
Seen the furore on twitter regarding Morton fans being flung in the main stand on Tuesday. Seating area plus the standing section below is roughly about 400/500 capacity so would imagine that will accommodate the travelling support, with the game being a Tuesday. Would imagine once they sell the set number of seats they’ll say access will be available to the terracing below.
It’s a bit of a shite prospect but we can’t exactly ask Morton to fight on our behalf to get us onto the terrace when Morton put Ayr fans in the corner of our stand.
Hopefully we sell enough to be out on the terrace, but announcing that we’ll likely be stuck in the stand with the prospect of getting behind the goal if enough of us go is hardly a great sales strategy for Ayr.
Similar to Arbroath telling us to sit in a tiny section of their stand or stand in the pissing rain at Christmas time, Scottish football clubs don’t really help themselves at times.
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24 minutes ago, Halbeath Raith Rover said:
Raith haven't named the fan banned, so it won't prejudice anything. If someone is charged then there is nothing to say they are the person who is banned.
It's exactly the same as what the Pars did in Jan when they identified those responsible for attacking a Raith fan and banned them immediately, those cases are now going through the courts.
A club doesn't need to reach the same level of proof to ban someone as a court does to convict them. Theres no reason for the club not to ban them immediately.
You either have a really poor grasp of the law or are desperate to somehow paint us, identifying and taking immediate action as a bad thing.
Yes, that’s absolutely what’s happening, here.
No lawyer on the planet would draw a correlation between their client being banned from following Raith Rovers for an incident that they’re in court for, and Raith Rovers pre-judging the case, whether they named them or not.
Give your head a wobble. Sometimes, even though they’re your favourite football team, it’s possible that Raith can do wrong from time to time.
I’d have thought you lot, above all others in this division would understand that.
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26 minutes ago, TxRover said:
What, pointing out your pronouncement is irrelevant due to events? No, sir, you are silly.
Caught, banned from Starks Park, and I’m sure Police Scotland will be looking into the matter. So why don’t you move over to the Raith vs Ayr thread to continue your incessant braying.
I’m not sure they will be at all.
Raith might prove me wrong, and fair play to them if they do, but going by their statement, it looks to me like they’ve taken the decision to ban the fan and leave it at that, rather than hand their details onto Police Scotland.
If they were to seek criminal charges, as they absolutely should, the correct course of action would be to suspend the fan pending a police investigation, so as not to prejudice any potential court case, before banning them for life on the conclusion of the case.
Instead they look to have taken the easy way out, banning the fan and moving swiftly on.
If the fan faces criminal charges, any lawyer worth their salt would surely point to Raith’s decision to impose a ban on them as prejudicing the case- basically deciding on their guilt before the court process has taken place.
I suspect Raith have done this clown a favour by merely banning them instead of handing their details over to the authorities. I’d like to be proven wrong.
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On 27/03/2024 at 13:28, Grumpy Soo-sider said:
Going on current form it's a win for QP, but going on the recent history of the fixture it's a win for Morton. Normally I would maybe hope for an away draw. It's a difficult one to call but, like supporters of both teams I'm sure, I want a win.
Just out of interest, what does “recent history” constitute with this fixture, given that it’s now 62 years since Queen’s Park last beat Morton in a league match?
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2 minutes ago, SirJimmyofNic said:
We'll see, the global warming mob predict our winters are gonna get wetter and wetter over the coming years ........ but that'll likely be a load of tosh to you as well I guess
Jesus wept. You’re really throwing everything at this now in the hope that something, anything, will stick.
Let’s take this season’s Championship as an example- with seven match days remaining, and even in spite of Dunfermline’s problems with their pitch this season, we have two matches outstanding. Those being Arbroath v Airdrie, rearranged from 3rd of February because of Airdrie’s Challenge Cup commitments, and Ayr v Morton, rearranged from 9th March due to Morton’s Scottish Cup commitments.
Excluding this midweek, in which there are no fixtures scheduled, we have six midweeks in order to fit in those two games, neither of which were postponed because of the weather anyway.
For a country with a lot of rain, we have very little difficulty completing fixtures, regardless of how you try to paint things to suit your agenda.
When you’re in a hole, stop digging.
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3 minutes ago, SirJimmyofNic said:
Nothing to do with my club having a plastic pitch, but it's a lot better than most that have grass including your own pitch, but having a synthetic should not be a bar on getting into the top flight just to satisfy the arse cheeks
That’s not your argument though. You said that grass pitches won’t work in this country if we operate a winter season, despite overwhelming evidence to contradict you.
Whether you prefer the Stark’s Park pitch to the Cappielow one is neither here nor there- it doesn’t support your desperately flawed argument in any way, shape or form.
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East Kilbride v Stranraer
in Scottish League 2 General Chatter
Posted
Fair enough- on last year’s final I don’t remember thinking the same about the 50/50 decisions, but I didn’t have a horse in the race, so I dare say I wouldn’t have noticed so much. I was also at the other end of the park from the penalty incident so couldn’t have told whether it should or shouldn’t have been awarded.
I do remember there being the first half red card the previous year but would need to watch it back to pass judgement, and to be honest I can’t really be bothered so will take your word for it.
I do however, agree on the Cowdenbeath v Cove incident, but Cowdenbeath were benefitting at the time as an SPFL team against a Highland team, so not receiving any perceived Lowland League preference.